Half Serenity
by Trylissia
Summary: Second Life could be her chance for a new beginning. She just had to have the courage to take it. [Updated First Login & New Chapter]
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE**

_"It is the year 2100 AD. As a result of technological advancements – such as the advent of virtual reality, and the creation of sleep-based game machines – online gaming has rapidly developed over the years._

_Thus, the realism of online games has increased from 50%…60%…70%…to 80%. The current market is dominated by two MMO giants – _The World_ and _Life_ – both of which have achieved a realism level of 85%. With over 80% of the human population making up the number of players, the first thing that anyone asks of a new acquaintance is, 'Are you from _The World_ or _Life_?'_

_However, things have begun to change. The world's largest technology company has caused a huge stir with its revelation: after ten years of research, they have created _Second Life_, the latest game with a realism level of 99%._

_And now the entire world waits with bated breath…"_*****

**xxxxxxxx**

A young woman sat quietly at the edge of a flower strewn meadow; her thoughts drifting. She loved this place. The multitude of colors enchanted her while the aura of peace it projected comforted her. In this meadow nothing could harm her. She didn't have to deal with the starkness of the reality happening beyond it and could let go of all the emotion that weighed down her soul. She breathed in deeply, filling her nose with the pleasing aroma of the flowers, as she allowed herself to simply enjoy the moment; revel in her special place; and cease thinking.

Time passed outside the safe bubble of her haven. How much time was elapsing she wasn't sure and couldn't find the urge within herself to care. Eventually though, a soft voice did intrude upon her solitude.

"Excuse me, Miss."

"Yes," she responded disinterestedly.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but there is a mail message waiting for your attention from the Long Company. It is marked urgent."

No matter how many times she asked him to stop addressing her as "Miss" instead of her given name, Ty always ignored her. It seemed rather ironic to her the way he so easily managed to find loopholes within her requests. She "had not specified that he could not call her Miss when he was informing her that she had received a message from the Long Company" would be his excuse this time if she tried, yet again, to correct him. She would never admit to it now, but she had begun to secretly like his formal way of addressing her. It made her feel almost cared for. The fact that Ty was an artificial intelligence didn't change that. Besides, he was closer to her than any so-called "real" intelligences of her acquaintance.

"Thank you, Ty. I'll view it now."

If she had been feeling less numb she probably would have been sighing dramatically when she said that. Ty acted like a bit of a mother hen to her. She told him, emphatically, that she wanted to be left alone. He therefore, contrarily used any excuse he could to barge into her self-imposed emotional exile.

Instantly upon her agreement, a large, opaque holographic screen materialized about a foot in front of her. The aforementioned message popping up on the hologram a heartbeat later. It was a newsletter of sorts reminding those who had pre-ordered the Long Company's latest virtual reality game that its servers would officially come online the following week, on XX date. It was common practice for game companies to send out this sort of marketing mail before the launch of a new product. It wasn't something that should have been seen as exceptional or worthy of significant note. To the young woman it was momentous; this was her first glimpse of the world outside her voluntary isolation in months.

She'd long ago forgotten having pre-ordered the game. Though her forgetting wasn't a surprise like the newsletter itself was. She had forgotten lots of things over the past few months in her pursuit of complete avoidance.

If she had still believed in one, she might have thought her receiving the message at this point in time to be a sign from a higher power. Ty didn't realize it, but he had just delivered her what could possibly be her salvation. This could be her chance to start anew. She could become anyone she wanted to be once she logged in. She'd be able to leave all of the pain behind. She would escape. And after she had escaped for a while who knew what could be possible? Perhaps this game really would be able to save her.

* * *

*****_Direct quote of the prologue sentences of ½ Prince by Yu Wo taken from the translated version of the novel produced by Prince Revolution._


	2. First Login

**FIRST LOGIN**

The queue to enter _Second Life_ had taken over two hours to get through. The amount of players all wanting to log in at once had stretched the game's character creation servers to max capacity with an unprecedented amount of overflow. Millions of players meant millions of characters waiting to be created. It was with slight trepidation and a good dose of expectation that one young woman's journey commenced.

**xxxxxxxx**

I opened my eyes to nothingness. No noise; no light; an absence of everything. A human's typical reaction to that absence is to feel uncomfortable or at the least disoriented. Except for lately I'd felt a certain affinity with darkness. It hid my vulnerabilities as well as the negative qualities about myself I wanted to keep from admitting to. It didn't cause me to feel inadequate, like I had only faults with no virtues. Darkness was more soothing to me when compared to the harshness of truth and hope that light brought.

The sudden burst of illumination hailing my entrance to the character creation area almost saddened me. However, I resolutely shrugged off the feeling with some minor silent chastisement. I stuffed all of my emotional baggage into a box to ignore for the foreseeable future. I wanted to return to the light. That was the whole point behind taking this chance! I could- no, I _would_ do this.

Once I was done giving myself a mental pep talk and my temporarily blinded eyes had adjusted, I noticed a pretty young woman seated before me on what resembled a high-tech version of a throne. I guess the designers of _Second Life_ were going for a Sci-Fi feel during the character creation process if the chair and her futuristic, silver uniform were anything to go by. No ethereal, scantily clad, beauty of a goddess to make the guy players drool and the less-blessed girls feel inferior. Personally, I was grateful to have a human **GM** helping me instead. Even if she was a knockout in her own right, at least I knew she was human. The games with **NPC** goddesses in character creation always made me obsess over my complexes while I was customizing my character.

"Hello, and welcome to _Second Life_. This is your first time playing, so please give us a minute to scan your body and record your vocal frequency. This way, you will be able to immediately enter _Second Life_ whenever you put the game helmet on," she said. *****

Her syrupy sweet tone and fake smile were at odds with the frustration in her brown eyes as she impatiently drummed her fingers against the wide armrest of her throne. She clearly hadn't appreciated my previous internal dawdling.

"All set! You may now begin to create your character. Before you proceed, I must remind you that you will only have one chance to create a character. Once created, your race, name, and appearance cannot be altered."

"So, I'm only allowed the one?"

I dislike sounding ignorant, but I wanted to enter the game with as little knowledge as possible. Anything I got confused about, I could easily find answers for on the game's website later. Online forums and player run fan-sites were also useful places to find such information. Beginning with an unbiased view of _Second Life_ would enable me to not be held back by any pre-conceived notions as I was playing. For years I have experienced **VRMMORPG**s in this way. I saw no reason to change now; despite all the hype that surrounded _Second Life's_ launch.

"In order to preserve the realism of _Second Life_, each person may only have one account and one character, without exception," she replied, her tone still that gratingly chipper one of before.

I sincerely wished that she would drop the "Cheerful GM" act. It didn't suit her in the least. Nor did it fit the know-it-all-condescending-to-talk-to-an-idiot undertone she had running through her informative responses.

"Would you please tell me the consequences for character death?"

I figured I might as well make full use of the opportunity to question a GM while I had it; snide undertones notwithstanding. Each game handles a player's death differently. Some subtracted experience from you, others sent you to the nearest graveyard in spirit form then made you walk back to your body and a few were harsh enough to make your character's death permanent. Restarting from level one with the loss of everything your character had gained to that point within game was never fun. That hardcore style of gameplay had fallen out of favor in the current market, but a handful of independent game companies still featured titles with such severe rules.

"If your character dies, you'll instantaneously be returned to the nearest rebirth point. As a penalty, you will be demoted one level."

I mentally sighed in relief. I was grateful that the punishment wasn't as severe as it could've been.

"Thank you for answering my questions."

"You're welcome. Would you like to begin creating your character?" was what she said in response to my politeness. Nonetheless, I got the distinct impression this was what she was really saying: "If you're done asking me stupid questions, would you please start making your character now?" She didn't fool me.

"Yes, please."

"First, you will need to select which race you would like your character to be," she instructed. "_Second Life _offers a wide assortment of races. Each one possesses unique racial benefits as well as race specific base **stats** given prior to the random allotment."

The previously empty space to my right was abruptly filled with living creatures. All of them stood calmly before me to give life size examples of what I would look like as each race the game offered. The races ranged from Humans, Elves, Dark Elves, Dwarves, Demons, Holymen, and Beastmen (sub-species included wolves, birds, wildcats, etc) to Spirits (with ten sub-categories, including tree spirits, flower spirits, water spirits, etc). It was a staggering amount of variety. Since I was the type of person who loved character customization, I found myself experiencing my first bout of excitement in months, if not longer.

I carefully examined each option. If I was going to be stuck with this one character for the rest of my gaming experience, then it needed to be absolutely perfect. In real life I was rarely concerned with my outward appearance. In contrast, I turned extremely vain the instant I logged into a game. I had been known to spend hours in character creation areas. Though, I'm not sure I would dare to do so with this particular GM as my guide.

_Second Life_ allows players to make a plethora of changes to their characters. The only portions of a character you cannot alter are: facial features, build and height. Proportionally, those three physical characteristics will remain the same no matter what race the player picks. For example, if you are on the short side for your gender in real life and choose to be an Elf, then you will be considered short for a member of the Elven race, but still usually be taller when compared to the average Human. It was just one more way _Second Life_ sought to ensure the ninety-nine percent realism of their VRMMO. It was because of those limitations that there was one race I knew I definitely didn't want to play. I didn't want to have my character stay a member of the Human race. What would be the point of my escape, my attempt at a second chance, if every time I caught a glimpse of my reflection I was given a cold dose of reality?

Elves I had pretty much ruled out as still too closely resembling Humans. The Demon race seemed promising. Or perhaps a Spirit would be better? It was more difficult than you would think to pick just one…

After much vacillation, I was leaning towards being a Demon. With some adjustments to my hair, eye color and skin tone, I could easily look like a completely different person. Though picking a more "commonly chosen" race did rub me a smidge the wrong way. A lot of detailed information is given to you by the GM when choosing a race. One tidbit is how often that race had been chosen during the game's testing phases as well as how difficult or useful that race was deemed to be for gameplay by the beta-testers. Humans, Elves and Demons were the top three picks. The Celestial race came in at a close fourth.

It was at that moment that a smaller figure, hiding at the back of the crowd of Possible Me's, grabbed my attention. She was short in stature with a slim build. Delicate would be a good word to describe her. A small pair of, what I assumed were, butterfly wings peeked out around her shoulders. I fell in love at first sight.

"Um... Could I please see myself as that race only?"

I gestured hesitantly toward the Butterfly Girl. While I was debating races, the GM had been busy glaring daggers in my direction. The fact that a pleasant expression remained on her face did not alleviate said glare's potency in the least. As curious as I was, I didn't dare ask why she was so clearly annoyed at having to do her job. I didn't want to risk Miss Bombshell dropping the fake perkiness routine to deal me bodily harm instead.

"The Thyrran were rarely chosen during the beta-testing phases. They are weaker physically in comparison to the other races with a base Strength Stat of zero. However, the Thyrran place a heavy emphasis on Willpower and Wisdom, exceeding all the other races in those two base stats. These racial base stats do place them at a distinct disadvantage during close range combat as well as make the beginning levels of the game more difficult. Some points may be added to the Strength Stat when the random allotment is rolled during character creation, but the chance of a high amount is minimal.

Generally, they are better served being a **magical class** than a **melee** or **range**. This race is born with two unique racial abilities: Flight, which at level one increases your movement speed by five percent when flying; and Gatherer, which increases your characters Herb Lore by twenty-five. Neither of which were found to be overly beneficial by the average beta tester.

The Thyrran are able to hide their wings whenever they choose, but doing so doesn't affect their stats or abilities except for Flight. When their wings are hidden, the Thyrran are unable to fly. Obviously. Also, due to their weakness in the area of physical abilities, this race is limited to cloth armor no matter the class the player eventually becomes."

As she gave me all of the pertinent information regarding the Thyrran race as a whole, I slowly circled what I would look like as a member. With this closer inspection, I immediately realized that her wings were in fact not butterfly wings, but resembled more what I imagined a fairy's wings would look like. The translucent appendages arched out from the center of her shoulder blades and came to a gentle point at the top. Her wingspan was about sixty centimeters from tip to tip; give or take a few centimeters. No fairy sparkles though or pixie dust that let others fly when they had happy thoughts.

I liked the character model a lot. It sharpened my features the slightest bit to give my face a more impish quality. I could easily envision myself becoming her. Unlike the "real life" me, the "Thyrran" me didn't fade into the woodwork. She would draw attention no matter where she went in spite of her short height. I liked that idea a lot.

"Legend states that the Thyrran originated from the same race that gave birth to the Elves and are still considered to be distant cousins of a sort. Smaller in comparison to the other races offered, the tallest recorded Thyrran only grew to a height of one hundred and fifty-nine centimeters. The average male stands at one hundred and fifty-four centimeters. The average female at one hundred and forty-seven. To give a less technical perspective, the top of a Thyrran's head typically reaches to about shoulder height on a human of the same gender."

I had decided. I was going to be a Thyrran. She suited the future I wanted to create for myself within _Second Life_ down to a "T". Now all I needed to do was figure out the colors I wanted to use. Hairstyles; color schemes; the multitude of possibilities left my mind whirling. I was so excited that I managed to forget all about Miss Creepy Smile GM. I simply rolled up my creative sleeves and focused entirely on making my second chance.

**xxxxxxxx**

_Quite some time and many changes of mind later…_

I took a step back to admire my handy work. Her eyes, framed by thick dark lashes, were a soft indigo. Her, now waist length, curls I changed to an inky black. You could just see the purple highlights wherever the light caught it. The recommended colors for the Thyrran were light pastels, but what was the fun in picking a normal color?

I had trouble with her wings. Choosing a color that wouldn't look ridiculous was more difficult than I expected it to be. I changed my mind multiple times before settling on making them a paler, near translucent, shade of her eye color. Her skin, a pale cream, was the easiest decision. I merely kept it fairly close to my natural skin tone. She was perfect.

_Games truly do bring out my inner narcissist,_ I thought to myself wryly.

A slight quirk of my lips was the only outward sign of my humor. I had worried at first that she would look childish upon completion. She didn't. She retained my twenty-year old body, just minus a few centimeters. She pulled off looking ethereal. I normally look gaunt and in desperate need of some sunlight. It was an odd feeling to know that she would soon be me. Odd, but the tiniest bit thrilling at the same time.

"Do you want to be made thirty percent more beautiful," asked the GM after tolerating me taking a minute to bask in the afterglow of a successfully created character.

I nodded while wondering who in their right mind answered "no" to that question.

"Now, you just need to name your character and decide on your starting continent."

"Um…"

Well, that was an intelligent answer. I already knew which continent I wanted to begin my adventure on. The name was the part of her instructions that stumped me. I should have been thinking of one as I was creating my character. Instead, I got to stand there looking like an idiot as an impatient GM gave me a disturbing, mega-watt fake smile. She had not lost that smile once during this process. I don't believe she even blinked. There was something not right about that.

Trying to put her staring out of my mind, I worried my bottom lip and contemplated my name. A character's name was just as important within a game as a character's appearance. You could be the best warrior out there, but no one was going to take you seriously if you had chosen a lame name. I paused a moment longer, my mind busy racing from one name to the next. Then I had an epiphany. I knew exactly what to call myself.

"Serenity. I want to be called Serenity."

The name reminded me of better times. I'd thought it beautiful the first time I heard it. Serenity would suit my gaming alter-ego perfectly.

"The five continents you can choose from are North, South, East, West and Central. Which continent would you like to start on?"

"Central Continent, please."

"With that, you are ready to be born. Enjoy your adventures within the world of _Second Life,_" she called, sounding genuinely cheerful for the first time since I had entered the character creation area.

It was weird. After my character lunged toward me and I felt myself start falling down to the game world, I could have sworn I heard her muttering something about being one step closer to leaving to find her "hottie" Prince Charming. She had to have been the strangest GM I'd ever come into contact with in all my time of playing VRMMORPGs.

As the ground rushed up to meet me, my last coherent thought before I blacked out was a whimsical one: I could finally appreciate how poor Alice felt when she fell down the rabbit hole.

* * *

*****_Portions of the following conversation/description are quotes or paraphrases from the original work. I felt that a GM would have a script they needed to follow. So, I kept the dialogue as close as possible for those areas that it seemed most likely to be script. (i.e. when scanning the player, before beginning the character creation process, information on the races, etc.)_

* * *

**GAMING TERMS GLOSSARY**

**GM** – _Game Moderator:_ people hired by the game company to oversee it; responsible for taking player feedback, telling the company of bugs or glitches within the game, and ensure players follow the company's Terms of Service (TOS) guidelines

**NPC**- _Non-player Character: _characters that a player interacts with that are not controlled by a human, but are instead controlled by the computer programming itself

**VRMMORPG** – _Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game:_ Fairly self-explanatory…

**Stats** – _Statistics:_ enhance a player's abilities within game; separated into eight categories in _Second Life_: Strength, Physique, Agility, Intelligence, Willpower, Wisdom, Charisma, and Luck

**Magical, Range & Melee Classes – **Magical Classes usually refers to classes that are heavily magic based (Priests, Mages, Summoners, etc.) Ranged Classes refers to classes that attack from far away (Archers, Gunners, etc.) & Melee Classes usually refers to those involving close range, physical power (Warriors, Fighters, Theives, Paladins, etc.)


	3. Second Login

**SECOND LOGIN**

I half-expected to wake up in Wonderland. I didn't. The first thing I saw upon opening my eyes was a brilliant, clear blue sky. The sort of vast summer sky you lay back in the grass to watch when you were a kid. No pixels or obvious signs of computer imaging.

I was beginning to understand why the realism in this game was hyped up so much in their marketing campaign. As awesome as the visual graphics were, it was the Long Company's less conspicuous attention to detail that really provoked astonishment from me. Things that a person took for granted out in the real world; like smell or touch. There was no delay between me touching the grass and "feeling" myself touching it. Previous games struggled to capture the smell aspect of things. Inevitably the scents had all smelled artificial somehow. Not so for _Second Life._

Amongst other issues, game launch days are notorious for overcrowding in the beginner areas. Having mass quantities of players in concentrated places within the game is both a blessing and a curse. While it's easier to find a party to kill difficult monsters, the mobs needed to complete quests usually have players killing them quicker than the game can re-spawn them. Quest completion times often double on a game's launch day because of it. It is especially noticeable within the first few hours of the game going live.

To offset the annoyance of the overcrowding is the excitement experienced by all on the day of a game's launch. It's contagious. Players have even been known to pull full, twenty-four hour, day long "game-athons" on Launch Days. Nonsense as well as random fun goes hand in hand with the push to level as quickly as possible. The feeling of instant camaraderie with your fellow players that's generated that day is hard to duplicate.

I hadn't been bit by the Launch Day Bug as of yet, but I knew I had to get going if I didn't want to be left in the dust. I was already at least a good two and a half hours, if not more, behind the rest of the game population. Other players could already be moving on from the newbie villages to the big cities of their continents.

I reluctantly stopped my sky gazing at that thought. It was time I got myself progressing forward too. I'd have plenty of opportunities to "Ooo" and "Ahh" at the game's realism later.

Upon sitting up, I noticed at last where exactly the game had deposited me. I was sitting in what I assumed to be the center of a village's town square. Though I'm not sure it could accurately be termed a village. There weren't any houses or buildings of the traditional sort. Instead, the structures surrounding the grassy area I took to be the square looked like they had simply grown out of the forest floor. They were tree houses in the most literal of senses; each having been created using the trunk of a giant tree. The game designers had obviously had a lot of fun as well as used a great deal of imagination when creating this area. The whimsical shapes and bizarre color combinations of the forest's plant life reminded me greatly of the imagery from the classic movie, James Cameron's _Avatar_. The landscape was Alien-esque with a dash of whimsy thrown in.

All of the NPC's milling around in the sort-of-village were exclusively Thyrran. They fit in perfectly with the quirky environment. Apparently _Second Life _is the type of VRMMO that had a beginner area for each race it offered. The village was far too small to be meant to support a large quantity of players. Not that it mattered as I didn't see anyone except NPCs walking about.

The first thing I do when I make it all the way into a game is pull up my character's information. It had become second nature to check at this point. So, with that in mind, I cautiously stood up. I still felt a little woozy from the aftereffects of my entrance to _Second Life_ and didn't want to land back on my butt again. One fainting spell was more than enough in my opinion.

_System,_ I thought with some glee once I had successfully gained my feet. I always feel like a telepath when using game commands silently. What can I say? Simple things amuse me.

Anyway, the basic stats that instantaneously became visible for my left eye were as follows:

[_**Name:**__ Serenity __**Gender:**__ Female_]

[_**Level:**__ 1 __**Race:**__ Thyrran __**Class:**__ None __**Reputation:**__ 0 __**Health:**__ 40 __**Mana:**__ 85_]

[_**Unspent Skill Points:**__ 0 __**Strength:**__ 3 __**Physique:**__ 4 __**Agility:**__ 6 __**Intelligence:**__ 8 __**Willpower:**__ 10 __**Wisdom:**__ 10 __**Charisma:**__ 5 __**Luck:**__ 4_]

[_**Abilities:**__ Flight – Ability Level 1, movement speed + 5% when flying;__ Gatherer – Ability Level 1, increases Herb Lore by +25_]

The maximum amount you can have after creation for each of your stats is ten. The GM hadn't been kidding when she said that Thyrran's were best suited for magic classes. With an Intelligence of eight, Willpower of ten and Wisdom of ten, I was obviously over compensating for my pitiful Strength and Physique.

The lack of a class didn't come as a surprise to me. If you were not given the option to choose your class during a game's character creation, then that just meant you had to finish a Class Change Quest at some point in the beginning levels of the game. Typically the quests were given at level ten or fifteen. While every VRMMO sought to set themselves apart from the others, the core gameplay essentially stayed the same amongst them all. A revolutionary change in the way games are played hasn't happened since the advent of virtual reality through sleep based game machines.

Closing the System Menu with a thought, I reached for my Beginner Pouch. Otherwise referred to as my inventory. Different bags can hold different amounts of items. The Beginner Pouch only had ten slots. Though, the same type of item could stack up to twenty times without taking up more than one slot.

Game company's tended to give their player's courtesy starting gear, sometimes even giving out more goodies than that, immediately once they've entered the game world. The gear wouldn't be very good, but it would certainly be better than the clothing you're born into the game wearing. The Long Company followed precedent. I found a threadbare shirt (defense +3), worn brown trousers (defense +3) and a pair of scuffed leather boots (defense +2). There was no way I could consider the knife(attack +1) they gave me to be a weapon. It was barely longer than my index finger. With a sigh, I did my best to remember that poor **newbies** like me really don't have the luxury to be choosy. Though that didn't stop me from thinking longingly of my legendary grade gear set from _The World. _I equipped the clothing and slipped the knife through my belt so it would be in easy reach should I need it quickly. I was as ready as I was going to get to begin my adventuring.

_Quest Log._

A new window popped up in front of my eye upon my silent command. Quest logs did more than keep track of how far along you were in completing a quest. They also gave a list of quests recommended for your level and where to find the NPC who gave out each quest. You didn't really need the recommendations in the higher levels of gameplay; it was the lower levels that the feature was invaluable in.

[_**Recommended Quests**_]

[_**Meeting the Villagers :** Elder Windsong(Level 1) _]

[**_A Slimy Problem :_**_ Elder Windsong(Level 2) _]

[**_Flight School : _**_Flight Instructor Lunaer(Level 5) _]

Under each quest title was a short description of it. The first was meant to help you familiarize yourself with the NPC's and their functions. It was an easy quest which would most likely give me, the player, a small amount of experience (**EXP**) as reward upon completion. "A Slimy Problem" was a basic monster hunting type of quest. It was the sort that required you go talk to the quest giver, then they proceed to send you off to hunt an _X amount _of a certain monster. For the beginner levels, the monster is always easy to defeat. That quest would get me accustomed to the combat system employed by the game. Not very challenging, but then it wasn't supposed to be. The last quest was pretty self-explanatory. It was going to teach me how to fly. And I'd probably get some decent EXP and/or money for doing it.

I decided to go in search of Elder Windsong first. I could pick up both of the Elder's quests at once. Then I'd complete the meet and greet of the villagers first, before going off to get rid of whatever wimpy monster was presently terrorizing the area.

**xxxxxxxx**

After questioning the nearest NPC, I found Elder Windsong enjoying a big mug of apple cider at the village's tavern. The Elder title described him perfectly. He had more wrinkles than I could count and a snow white beard that reached past his waist. However, despite his aged continence, his pale grey eyes were alert as ever. He gave me a gap-toothed grin that lit up his entire face when I sat at his table.

"Hello, my dear. Welcome to Green Leaf Village. Newly arrived are you?"

"Yes, sir," I replied with a small smile of my own.

There was a certain irony to the village's name as none of the leaves I had seen so far were green. There was every other color imaginable. Magenta, purple, bright blue and one plant even had giant leaves spotted by polka dots, but no green.

"Well, aren't you a polite little thing. We need more young adventurers like you coming through. The last was in far too much of a rush to be polite. He was a dull sort, wasn't near as pretty as you either."

"Thank you, sir."

"So, what's your name sweetheart?"

"Serenity," I told him with a hint of pride entering my voice.

"Serenity, eh? Lovely name. Suits you. I'll call you Serenity, if you'll call me Windsong. 'Sir' makes me feel nearly as old as the title, Elder, does."

"Windsong it is then and thank you."

As I spoke, my smile stretched and became more genuine. It would take someone with a harder heart than I have stay cold in the face of this old man's charm, bad accent notwithstanding. I wondered absently if all the NPCs within _Second Life_ were going to be so flirty. It would be a definite ego boost if they were. Didn't matter if he was an NPC, I would absolutely not complain if a guy closer to my age were to flirt so outrageously with me.

"How're you managing thus far?"

"Just fine. Though, I haven't caused any mischief as of yet."

"Good to hear, good to hear," Windsong said with a laugh before pausing to take a sip from his mug of cider. "Now, what was it you sought an old fella like me out for?"

"I was hoping you might have some tasks you needed help in completing," I replied, giving him the standard phrase used amongst VRMMORPGs to initiate quests.

"I do believe that I have some things that you can do for me. You can start by taking this stack of letters and delivering them 'round town. Should help you get better acquainted with where everything is at any rate. Return to me once you've handed 'em all out and I'll give you a small something for your troubles."

I gently took the pile of envelopes from him and stuffed them into my Beginner Pouch.

"Anything else I can do while delivering the letters?"

"Well, there are those Obnoxious Slimes that have been causing all sorts of trouble lately," he said after a moment of contemplation. "If you kill ten of the little buggers for me, I'd greatly appreciate it."

"It would be my pleasure, Windsong."

**xxxxxxxx**

I found my way around the village easily enough as all of the locations were clearly marked on the user interface's town map. My first stop was the pharmacy, followed by the bank, post office, blacksmith, general store and open-air market respectively. After making a circle of Green Leaf village, I was several coppers of tip money richer as well as somewhat better informed as to how the various economic features _Second Life_ had to offer worked. The hardest part of the whole process: having to listen patiently to some of the NPC's drone on about functions I was already familiar with. Banking within games, for example, has no major differences no matter what game you're playing. It's pretty much the same across the board.

I was more than ready to begin killing things. I've never been the squeamish sort when it comes to gaming. Though, when I'm outside in the real world I'm just a big sissy. Around spider's especially. They give me the creeps!

Many of my girl classmates at **Uni** are reluctant when it comes to participating in melee combat. They have lots of excuses for it. The most prevalent, however, is the girl doesn't want to seem unfeminine. The outlook is silly, yet understandable at the same time. It's a fact that guys do tend to flock around the "cute", less "take-charge" sort of girls. Something about the girls neediness making the guys feel manly. I once overheard two saying that they found one of the more independent girls in our class "intimidating in the hottest way possible". I don't blame them. The girls can be just as shallow. As evidenced by the "nice" guys frequently being friend-zoned. It's simple human nature.

I'm just the stubborn type who doesn't let her desire to appear feminine affect her gaming. And if anyone is stupid enough to try to say I didn't earn my levels through my own skill, then I won't hesitate to show them how deadly of a girl I can be. I'll school you and look pretty while I do it.

The Obnoxious Slimes were supposedly located a short walk outside of the village's boundaries. So, I headed north out of the village into the Green Leaf Forest. (Again, there were no actually green leaves in sight.) Shortly, I reached a large clearing filled with bouncing blobs of varying shades of blue. The largest ones that reached up to my waist were dark blue while the smallest, easiest, slimes that were barely knee-high, were dyed a soft baby blue. Your typical "cute-sy" monster that you almost feel bad for killing.

I looked down at the knife in my belt, considering its usefulness. Or rather its lack thereof. I thought I might be better off without it as it was so wimpy. Nonetheless, I drew it with my right hand and got ready to experience my first round of combat. I gripped the handle firmly, but loosely while keeping the blade parallel to my forearm with the sharp edge pointed away from my skin.

One last deep breath and the fight began. I started off by putting my slightly above average agility to good use. I charged a slime bouncing on the outer edge of the herd… pack… mass? What would be the proper term for that? Anyway, I caught a small baby blue one mid-jump. The height was perfect for my first, across the chest, swipe.

[_Attack successful, Obnoxious Slime -5 HP_]

Following the Slime's return to the ground, I dodged its attempt to bite my left leg easily enough. It didn't move very fast so all I had to do was lift my foot up and away. In the same fluid motion, I swung my foot forward again in a forceful kick. It wasn't that difficult to imagine I was playing soccer. The slime was roughly the right shape at least.

[_Critical hit successful, Obnoxious Slime -10 HP_]

[_Obnoxious Slime has died_]

[_Serenity's experience has increased to 10/20_]

[_Serenity has learned two new abilities – Quick Slash & Reflexive Banana Kick_]

I blinked. I wasn't sure I'd read that system notice correctly. The second ability sounded far too weird to be genuine. I hastily pulled up my character stats, skipping down to the abilities portion.

[**_Abilities: _**_Flight__ – Ability Level 1, movement speed + 5% when flying; __Gatherer__ – Ability Level 1, increases Herb Lore by +25; __Quick Slash__ – Ability Level 1, increases damage and attack speed when using knives by 2%; __Reflexive Banana Kick__ – Ability Level 1, damage increased by 5% when using leg based attacks, does not include weapon(s) attack power_]

Huh. So, I _had_ read the notice correctly. However, I was still left wondering as to what bananas had to do with anything.

* * *

**SIA NOTE:**

I strived for an almost conversational tone. I feel that was one of the more relatable and fun parts of both the manga as well as the novel. My goal was to keep the tone of Half Prince, yet still maintain my own author's voice and style within it too.

I've never done action sequences before. Part of the reason this chapter took me longer to get out then I had expected. ' I tried my best to keep it from feeling stilted. However, some constructive criticism and feedback for that portion would be especially helpful.

As I said before, I am doing my own beta-reading. Any flaws or errors are totally my own. But, if you let me know where those errors are, then I will happily fix them. :3 Thank you for reading!

Sincerely,

Sia

P.S. - For anyone who was wondering and didn't know, a banana kick is a legitimate soccer term. It refers to a shot that is kicked into the air that curves like a "banana". The ball curves because of sidespin. If it curves in, it is called an "inswinger"; if out, it is called an "outswinger". This kick is used a lot on corner kicks, to curve into or away from the goal and to curve around defenders.

* * *

**GAMING TERMS GLOSSARY**

**Newbie **– a term used to refer to beginner players within a game, non-derogatory; noob or n00b is a more derogatory way to refer to new players

**EXP – **_Experience _– players earn EXP by completing quests and killing monsters; once they reach a certain amount the player levels up

**Uni** – _University _– slang word common in Taiwanese culture (Yu Wo uses it); in keeping with the feel of the manga/novel, I'm doing so too; rather than saying 'College' or 'College Student' (as that's pretty much an American term) it'll be 'Uni' or 'Uni Student' or 'Student at Uni'


End file.
